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WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US Central Intelligence Agency had a secret plan to capture or kill Al-Qaeda operatives but it was terminated by new CIA Director Leon Panetta, The Wall Street Journal said late Sunday.
Citing unnamed former intelligence officials familiar with the matter, the newspaper said the precise nature of the highly classified effort remained unclear, and the CIA would not comment on its substance.

According to current and former government officials, the agency spent money on planning and possibly some training of its operatives for the mission, the report said.

It was acting on a 2001 presidential legal finding, which authorized the CIA to pursue such efforts. But the initiative had not become fully operational at the time Panetta ended it.

Citing three unnamed former intelligence officials, The Journal said that in 2001, the CIA also examined the subject of targeted assassinations of Al-Qaeda leaders. But those discussions tapered off within six months.
Neither Panetta nor members of Congress provided details, said the Journal, adding that he quashed the CIA effort after learning about it on June 23...

It reads like Panetta nixed a program that the previous administration had spent some money on, but had never fully initiated. If the Bush administration never went forward with their own program, maybe there were some good reasons to stop funding it at this point in time.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US Central Intelligence Agency had a secret plan to capture or kill Al-Qaeda operatives but it was terminated by new CIA Director Leon Panetta, The Wall Street Journal said late Sunday.
Citing unnamed former intelligence officials familiar with the matter, the newspaper said the precise nature of the highly classified effort remained unclear, and the CIA would not comment on its substance.

According to current and former government officials, the agency spent money on planning and possibly some training of its operatives for the mission, the report said.

It was acting on a 2001 presidential legal finding, which authorized the CIA to pursue such efforts. But the initiative had not become fully operational at the time Panetta ended it.

Citing three unnamed former intelligence officials, The Journal said that in 2001, the CIA also examined the subject of targeted assassinations of Al-Qaeda leaders. But those discussions tapered off within six months.
Neither Panetta nor members of Congress provided details, said the Journal, adding that he quashed the CIA effort after learning about it on June 23...